Looking Into the Past
by KasualKoopa
Summary: When Neff moves to Elmore, her past follows her in a way she didn't expect. With a rare disease she tries to cope with what happened in recent events. But will it give her the closure she needs, or swallow her whole? *Drug use, swearing, OC centered*
1. Coming Down! Neff's First Day!

_Author's Note: This story was from 2013 or 2014, I can't remember. But it's back, because I enjoyed the process of writing it. There WILL be changes that some of you who read this before will notice. I hope you still think it's good, though; whether you're a new or old reader._

 _If you're on the desktop site, I suggest you change the story width to either ¾ or ½. There are a lot of single sentence lines and it would be a drag to keep moving your eyes back and forth._

 _Dedicated to: my 14 year old self._

 **Coming Down! Neff's First Day!**

In which Neff goes to a new high school and meets new people.

~x~

After being here for a few days, I don't know what to think about Elmore. My dad gets lost everywhere, even with GPS. Maybe it's broken or something. We haven't met a lot of people except the person we bought the house from. But then again, we'll never see them again. We're complete strangers to this new place.

Back in my hometown, we had it made. Financial stability, always going places, being a happy family. Unfortunately, my parents split up for a reason I have yet to know. I would hear them arguing over me all the time. They wouldn't tell me exactly what was wrong. These days, I'm never told anything anymore.

It took us thirty minutes to find the school, and I TOLD my dad that we needed to leave earlier so we'd have time to spare. But no. As a result, I'm fifteen minutes late on my first day at my new high school.

I don't have a problem with school. I do fine. Elmore High School has a clean campus, I noted, as I got out of the car and looked around. The sun was beating down on the tan concrete walls that stood intimidatingly. A banner hung high above the doors to the entrance, reading "Welcome Back, Mustangs!" Pristine windows revealed classrooms inside and some of the people in them, who I'm honestly scared to meet. I don't know about the people yet. I hope they're not like the ones back home.

I walked in and went to the front office that was in plain sight. A cupcake secretary sat at her computer. It was surprising seeing a different species, as I haven't seen one in a long time. My hometown all had the same species: synthetic mice that have red skin because of the blood given to us at birth to stay alive. We have electrical wires and a machine heart that pump it all around our bodies, along with crystal white eyes that light up at night if we want them to. Whenever kids see us they think it's cool, so I feel pretty proud of my kind.

"Ah, you're late. Name?" she asked, her tone was that of a smoker.

"Neff Mau5. I'm new here."

"Oh, ugh, that means more paperwork." She searched her cluttered desk drawers and eventually pulled out a tan manila folder. Handing it to me, she said, "Here. Just take this. It's a copy of your old transcript, schedule, all that info. Now if you'll excuse me I have to get back to work."

And she continued to type away at her old computer.

Without saying a word, I walked out of the office and sat on one of the wooden benches outside.

"She hates me. She definitely hates me!" I whispered to myself, putting my face in my hands. "What did I do wrong? Did I talk too much? I only said like one sentence…" My mind was racing with all of these thoughts and possible scenarios that caused her to be that way towards me. I don't see what I did wrong. Does she hate everyone? I always want to get on the good sides of people. I hate it when others don't like me or think badly of me.

After calming down, I went down the hall to find room 137. First class of the day. The inside of the school was as nice as the outside. Pristine white floors, ruby red lockers, and neatly placed posters amongst the walls. Hell, this might be better than my old school. Just as I'm getting to the room, a blue cat and a fish with legs are running out of it. They whip past me, almost knocking me down.

"JUST RUN!" one of them screams. I hear a loud, ear-piercing screech. I've never heard a screech that loud and terrifying in my life. "RUN, I SAID! DON'T JUST STAND THERE! COME ON!" the blue cat said, as he grabbed my wrist and forced me to run with him and the fish. Another screech comes from behind us, and I turn my head to see this apeshit angry baboon coming towards us covered in white paint from head to toe.

I shrieked.

We hauled ass down the hallway with her almost at our feet. I could feel the anger radiating off of her. I don't know why she's covered in white paint, but judging from the fact that these two boys are running away, they probably had something to do with it.

"DARWIN! THIS MIGHT BE THE END, BUDDY!" the cat screamed. We rounded a corner and watched her fail to stop and slide out of a window at the end of the hall. With a loud crash from the glass breaking, she screamed, and a thump was heard outside.

I started panicking.

"IS SHE OKAY?!" I shouted, going to the window.

"Yeah, yeah, this happened before. But I'm really glad we didn't die," the cat said. "There's a new game coming out today that we have to buy after school."

"You're…. you're worried…. about a game… when she just fell out of… a window…" I trailed off.

"A first floor window. And?"

"The glass… could cut her…"

"Ah, she'll be fine. Once Principal Brown comes and finds out, she'll be as good as new."

There was a long silence. I stared out of the window at the monkey who was still covered in paint, now dried. She lay face down on the concrete with shards of glass surrounding her. It was good not to see blood at least. Her body lay twitching there, with her legs at odd angles and her facial expression that of a knocked out clown. I didn't want to laugh, but it was pretty funny.

"What is going on here?!"

All three of us turned around to see a furry slug with glasses. His hands were on his hips menacingly with a fire in his eyes. Looking over, I saw that Gumball and Darwin were unfazed by him.

"Oh, hey Principal Brown. Miss Simian had another outburst and fell out of the window," Gumball said casually. How the hell could he pull that off so smoothly?

"This is the third time this month you two have pulled another prank! I saw the cameras! Do you think I'm stupid? Why do you keep doing this?" Principal Brown demanded. Gumball and Darwin still were unfazed. I now know it's because they've done this several times. Probably dumber things in the past.

"It's April! Literally this whole month is for jokes!" Gumball protested.

"Uh, isn't it just April 1st that you joke around?" I poked in.

"And who are you?" the principal said in an angry voice, looking over at me. I flinched.

"I'm Neff. New here." I really hoped he didn't want to get me in trouble. I mean he saw the cameras, right? I just got unlucky and ended up running for my life.

Principal Brown shook his head and ended up giving all three of us detention. Now usually I'm one to protest and demand justice, but seeing as how he had that angry, tired look in his eye made me want to back off. He seriously looked like he was about to kill somebody. That is no understatement. I hope he doesn't hate me...

He told us to get back to class, and that's how I found out I had most of my classes with these two troublemakers. I was looking forward to it, honestly. With how much they seemed to fuck around it meant mild entertainment in class. On the other hand I felt bad that they had to be in trouble all the time. It was a mystery how they didn't get expelled.

A few classes rolled by. Nothing too serious. But when gym rolled around I knew I was in trouble. I am NOT athletic. I cannot run for more than 10 seconds without wanting to take a breather, nor can I lift more than 15 pounds per arm. Pathetic, I know. Being active isn't really my hobby. I just sit on my phone all day like any lazy teenager, scrolling through social media and watching videos. Again, pathetic.

After getting dressed shyly around the other girls, we headed out to the gym. I recognized a few people from my other classes. None of them I wanted to really talk to. Instead, I sat down on the bleachers and wrote in my journal for a bit until Miss Simian came out to tell us what to do. Some rainbow fluff kid came and sat next to me, but I just ignored him.

 _April 12th, afternoon._

 _Alright, this is my first day here. It's going good I guess. I still want to know why we moved to Elmore in the first place. I seriously thought my dad was fucking joking at first because it came out of nowhere. But he looked me dead ass in the eye and said he was serious. I packed my shit after a week, the moving truck came, and we left. I didn't want to say goodbye to mom. If anything, I would rather have stayed with her. My dad likes to get abusive when he's mad and I hate it. Now I have to deal with that with no input from my mom for him to stop. He doesn't abuse me physically, no, it's verbally. Name calling, hollow threats, shit like that. It's not right at all. You don't call your kid a dumbass or whatever and expect them to be okay with it. Meanwhile when my mom is mad she just stays silent and lets it pass. And then actually apologizes!_

 _My dad and I haven't talked much since we moved. I'm seriously gonna miss my hometown. All my friends, especially Sunny. God, he's so fucking great. We've been friends for as long as I can remember._

 _I'm glad I don't have to see my creepy doctor anymore. I go to these appointments with him and he does a lot of brain scans, said it's just for research and my parents agreed to it so I'm stuck with it. I don't know why they agreed but it gets me out of the house more. Maybe that's the reason. He also injects this liquid into my stomach for research too and then takes blood samples a week later. It's a big ass needle and I FUCKING HATE IT. I hate needles so much. I'm cringing right now thinking of it._

 _Ugh, the teacher is coming out. Gotta go._

I closed my journal and Miss Simian said we were playing dodgeball. Great. I was put on a team with the kid who sat next to me, this girl named Jamie, Gumball, Darwin, and a few others I didn't get the chance to recognize.

Within the first few minutes I got hit in the stomach with a ball.

"I suck at sports. I should have told her that," I mumbled to myself as I sat on the sidelines.

 _Back. I got out in dodgeball._

 _Alright anyways, Elmore isn't all that bad. It had a nice ne_

I forgot how to spell "neighborhood". The rainbow kid was next to me again. I really didn't want to talk but it would bug me so much if I didn't spell this word right.

"How do you spell 'neighborhood'?" I asked him. He looked over at me.

"I don't know. I'm not good at spelling. I'm good at sports though," he said proudly.

"Then why are you out?"

Realization spread across his face and he sighed. "Okay, I'm not THAT good at them. But I still like doing them."

"It's fine. I'm not good at them at all. You're definitely better than me," I stated. "Just keep practicing and you'll get better."

"I guess. Aren't you new here?"

"Yeah," I stated. Before I knew it, I was engaged in a conversation about my first day. I didn't even realize it until I looked back down at my journal that we had been talking for so long. Tobias was his name.

Maybe conversation comes naturally to me. I'm just too shy to do so.

The hour ended and I went to go get changed. I wasn't looking forward to detention. My dad was pissed, of course, so I wasn't looking forward to that when I got in the car with him.

I made my way to Simian's room and opened the door. On top of the desk lay both her and Principal Brown, sucking face like there was no tomorrow.

My first reaction?

"What the FUCK?" I shouted on impulse. Both of them looked up at me like a deer in headlights.

"I thought you said we had ten minutes, Lucy!" Brown shouted. "And you! Just go home and get out of here!"

I nodded and ran off without another thought. Never in my life have I seen something like that at school, and I hoped not to see it again!

Gumball and Darwin were walking towards me as I dashed down the hallway.

"Just go home!" I shouted. "They're making out in there and they just sent me out. Spare your eyes!"

 _April 12th, evening._

 _I'm back home. Simian and Brown were making out when I was supposed to be in there for detention, it was super fucking weird. I'm glad they sent me out instead of making me sit there awkwardly. God, that would have been so embarrassing. I screamed out "What the fuck!" and got more detention because I cussed, so I'm not looking forward to that tomorrow._

 _The car ride home was even worse. It was completely fucking silent. My dad is never silent like that. He would have chewed me out about how it's my first day and I'm already in trouble and may have called me a few names._

 _I'm tempted to try and ask him about everything. Why we moved here, why he and mom split up, why everything happened the way it was. What was the point of moving here? Do they not love each other anymore? Did somebody cheat? Did my dad decide to ditch his career?_

 _He's not doing music anymore and we're living off the millions he has in the bank because of his fame back home. At least he doesn't buy a big ass mansion with servants and we have a normal life. I'm thankful he has that same mindset. I don't like being rich because when people find out, they automatically assume that I'm some Mary Sue, perfect, spoiled, bitchy type. No, that's really not it! I'm just trying to get my shit together, graduate, and go to a normal college! People back home were such assholes about it!_

 _I'm getting heated and that gives me confidence to talk to him. I'll be back later._

Shutting my journal, I got up and headed downstairs to talk to him about all of this. He was sitting in the living room staring at the TV. Some sports game was on. The curtains on the big windows were closed, but enough sunlight was pouring in the room to make everything visible. He sat there with his feet on the coffee table and a few soda cans next to them. I sighed and walked towards him.

"Dad. Can I ask you a few questions?" I asked nervously. There went my confidence. But it was too late to back down now.

"What about?" he responded, not taking his white eyes off of the TV.

"Serious questions. I'd like your full attention at least," I said.

He sighed and got his feet off the table, sitting up and looking directly at me.

"Why did we move here? What happened back home for all of this to happen?"

"Don't worry about it."

His response pissed me off. He was sitting there, in our new couch, in our new home, in our new town. And he's telling me not to worry about why everything changed. Is he fucking kidding me right now?

"You're seriously not going to tell me? I kind of deserve an answer since all of this made an impact on my life!" I exclaimed. I was close to fuming.

"You're seriously still asking me after I gave you an answer? I told you not to worry about it. Leave it at that."

"What? Did you cheat on mom and not want to admit it?" I shot back. That would push his buttons. "Or did you quit your career and you're too ashamed to say so?"

Immediately he stood up and stormed over to me. Compared to me, he was literally twice my height. But I was angry and gained my confidence back. I stood as tall as I could. He stopped inches away from me and bent down, his face menacingly close to mine.

"I fucking told you not to worry about it. Now shut the fuck up and stop asking, you little shit. Be glad I didn't leave you back home."

"I would have been fucking glad being with mom!" I growled.

He caught me off guard and slammed me against the wall by my hair. I yelped as my head hit it hard. Yanking my head up to make eye contact with him, he shouted, "Shut the fuck up and listen to my fucking answer! I told you already! It was to fucking protect you!"

"To protect me?" I shouted back. It was a risk. I was shaking hard out of the adrenaline rush and some sort of fear. But I shouldn't be scared of him. He hit me before, why should I be scared if he does it again? Why should I be scared if he does anything? Life didn't seem to matter anymore. He and mom split up. I'm in a new town away from everything I loved and cared for. I didn't want to start a new life. I'm only 16. Why did it have to happen so suddenly on top of that?

"You should be grateful I want to protect you! That town is fucking dangerous!"

"Suddenly it's dangerous? For what reason?"

He pulled on my hair and threw me to the ground. I landed on my arm and it made a hard impact on the wood floor as I fell. Tears were streaming down my face as I looked back up at him.

"What the fuck is your problem putting your hands on me? All I asked was a simple fucking question!" I screamed. "You need fucking help with your anger!"

"AND YOU NEED HELP SHUTTING THE FUCK UP! NOW DON'T SAY ANOTHER WORD OR I'M KNOCKING ALL OF YOUR FUCKING TEETH OUT!"

And with that, he stormed out of the house, slamming the door behind him.

I was still shaking and eventually began sobbing. I was scared. No matter how badly I didn't want to admit it, I was terrified. This is the worst he's done in a while. He's been acting so different and it didn't help that he took his anger out on me. I couldn't go to anyone for comfort. No calling mom, her number was blocked. Sunny's phone was deactivated, and Amaya, my cousin, was too young to understand. Not having many people to depend on was fucking terrible.

I guess now is my time to depend on myself.

Slowly, I got off the ground. My arms were shaking, but I eventually stood up. My face was soaked with tears, and I knew the hair in my face was drenched, too.

"Can't depend on anyone anymore," I mumbled to myself.

My dad's car roared out of the garage and down the road. He left somewhere to smoke a full pack of cigs in peace. He always does that.

The rest of the night I sat on the bathroom floor, staring up at the small window outside. The plug-in light softly illuminated the room. My hair was put up in a bun, and a bag of hot and spicy chips sat next to me. The usual depressed routine. I would binge eat and fall asleep on the floor in whatever room I cried in. For the next week or so my dad and I wouldn't talk, I would walk myself to school, avoid eating dinner with him, and sit in my room until I finally got the unfair courage to apologize. I hated apologizing when he did this. I didn't need to. But I had to depend on him for some things eventually. It was all new to me. Usually I had my mom to give me a hand. But now, nobody.

I was scared of that too.

Around midnight I fell asleep in the shower stall. But suddenly, there was a knock on the bathroom door. I checked my phone. 3 AM. Why was he back so early? And why was he knocking on the door? He never made an attempt to talk to me after arguing like that.

"Neff," I heard him say. I stayed quiet. I was too sad to say anything. There was a sigh. "Look, there's just been a lot of shit going on. It's best if you don't know. It'll fuck up your life in more ways than you can imagine."

My heart skipped a beat. That didn't help! Now I wanted to know even more!

"That's no excuse to be like that towards me," I said to myself.

"I know, I know. I'm… I'm sorry."

I face palmed. I forgot about his good hearing.

Then it hit me. He actually apologized. For the first time in my life after getting into it with him, he apologized. I didn't know what to think. I was still upset with him and was debating on continuing to go with the usual routine. But suddenly I didn't feel the need to do so. I felt that he was genuinely saying that. Not just to avoid even more conflict.

"It's… alright, I guess."

"Now come out. Please. And get to bed."

 _April 13th, midnight._

 _We got into it bad. I was thrown to the floor and had my hair yanked. Along with my face being screamed in. He left the house as usual to smoke again, but then around 3 when I was in the middle of sleeping off my depressed phase, he knocked on the door and apologized. What I don't understand is why he did that. I didn't bother to ask. But I'm sort of glad it happened. Things might be awkward tomorrow though. When I came out of the bathroom he was gone, so thankfully I didn't have to face him._

 _All I wanted to fucking know was why everything happened. And now he's telling me that the reason will fuck up my life, and Mau5ville is dangerous._

 _I'm tired. And confused. I'm just going to sleep. I plan on writing to mom tomorrow and having any possible reply sent to the school so my dad won't find out. They can do that, right? I think so._

 _Goodnight. I WILL find out things soon. No matter what._


	2. New and Old Faces! What Am I?

**New and Old Faces! What Am I?**

In which Neff develops new relationships and discovers something strange.

~x~

 _"You are Neff's parents, I presume? Welcome. I wanted to talk to you about something serious."_

 _"What is it, V3ll? What's the matter with her?" the father's voice echoed._

 _"It seems she has a condition. Not many people have it. But it's dangerous. Very, very dangerous."_

 _"What do you mean by that?" The mother this time, had a worried expression on her face. Her husband had a stern look. He was always one to get upset right away if something was wrong. No doubt he was worried, but his first intent was to seek out the best solution instead of crying and hoping for a miracle to happen._

 _"This condition isn't like any other. Often times the people who have it are hunted down by curious, and psychotic people. There are many police cases on file if you wish to see what happened to them. But I've also brought you here to discuss a solution," the doctor explained. He folded his hands on the wooden desk. "I'm suggesting keeping her here in the facilities to have research done on her, and to keep her safe until she is 18 and ready to make her own choices. She will be provided with all necessities: food, water, schooling, exercise, everything. I think it might be the best solution until we can get rid of it and have her be safe again."_

 _"Fuck. No." The father stood up._

 _"Honey, listen to what he has to say at least!" the mother protested._

 _"No, why would I ever let our daughter be tied down like that? She needs to live a normal life. How do I even know any of what you're saying is true?!"_

 _"It's called Farrel-Butzen's disease, first discovered in the 1920s when a mau5 believed he knew the suspects of approximately thirty crimes. He was right, and research was done on him. Eventually we found out that more and more people had the condition. It's an extremely rare genetic condition that can be removed. But there's only a 50% chance of living, if it is."_

 _The doctor's words were backed up. The father knew if he went home and looked it up on the Internet, it would be there. He felt extremely stupid. Why would a licensed doctor lie to him about the health of their daughter? And when the father had such a good reputation in town? It would be foolish, considering he has people in high places that would make him lose his license within minutes if he was lying._

 _However, he still wanted Neff to have a normal life._

 _"I can see that there can't be a decision made right this minute. Give it some time. Talk it out, and see me in a week," the doctor said, typing on his computer. The mother stood up next to her husband._

 _"Yeah, that'll be fine. What time?" she said._

 _"Oh, how about 2 PM sharp?"_

 _"Wonderful. We'll see you then."_

 _"Before you go," the doctor said as they began walking out, "you should know exactly what types of people are out there searching for people with this condition." He got up and handed them a small packet._

 _"What is this…?" the father asked, taking it and looking at it like it was written in a foreign language._

 _"An information packet that contains everything known about this condition. Summarized, of course."_

 _Slowly, the father nodded and walked out, staring at the packet the entire time. His wife smiled sweetly before swiftly closing the door behind them._

 _V3ll snickered as he sat back down, remembering the conflict the man had with his wife before she died. The two reminded him of his previous marriage. They always had opposite opinions, but still stayed together regardless._

 _It was now evening, and the two parents were outside by the pool arguing so their daughter wouldn't hear. The sky was a faint blue, with the sun painting the pavement a bright orange color making the pool water sparkle vibrant shades. Both of them stood in the shade, with the light from inside illuminating them._

 _"I honestly think," the father said, "we've reached a stalemate."_

 _"What do you mean?" the woman responded, her heart skipping a beat._

 _"We can't reach a decision. I want her to be safe from being hunted down by these psycho ass people. And you want her to stay here and possibly die?"_

 _"I want her to be safe with those doctors. If they get rid of it, she can live a normal life!"_

 _The father threw his hands in the air. "You want to go based off of the 'if' factor? IF they get rid of it? What happens IF they don't? I'm not gonna take that fucking risk and have her dead! I would rather have her be safe in a different place and let her live a happy life! Not have her cooped up in a fucking laboratory!"_

 _"It's a risk I'm willing to take for her to be NORMAL again!"_

 _"Fuck the risk! I want a 100% chance! She's going with me, and that's fucking final!" the father screamed._

 _"You're gonna have to take this shit to court then! I AM NOT giving up on her!"_

 _"With the lawyers I fucking have? You have no goddamn fucking chance."_

 _The mother gritted her teeth and looked at her feet. Tears started rolling out of her eyes. She knew she didn't have a chance. He was going to win. No way was she going to keep her daughter here._

 _"Go, then. Take her. Move out. It's better that we're not going to be together anyways."_

 _And with that, she walked inside the house and slammed the door._

 _He looked back at her, and when she was out of sight, he punched the side of the house, his fist making a crack in the brick. He cried out in anger and pain. It was over. His marriage. His fame. All for his daughter. He wasn't sad about it in the slightest. It was for the best, to him. So he had to go through with it._

My eyes shot open and I sat up. I was gasping for air, and my heart was racing. What kind of dream was that?! And why did it not even seem like a dream, that I was right there with them?

Just what the hell was going on?

I looked over at my clock. 5:08. I had to get up anyways to get ready. The memories of last night came flooding back to me; I still couldn't believe he actually apologized. What caused him to do that?

The ride to school was quiet. It was weird seeing him after what happened. I didn't make eye contact out of the fear of conversation being none of it happened and I made it to school.

I found out I had my first hour with Tobias. The bad news was that it was the worst class of the day: math. Almost every high schooler has a problem with this. But it was just my luck that I came here smack dab in the middle of a lesson that I had no idea about.

"Miss Simian? Can I get help?" I asked, raising my hand. It was the middle of the hour. Everyone was quiet because of how early in the morning it was. The sun was just coming up over the school, and rays of light blasted in the room. It was a hot 80 degrees in the room, and not even the fans could keep it cool. We were all in misery. Me being irritated made it worse, because my body temperature shot up the second I realized that I couldn't do this.

"I don't know, can you?" The smartass teacher reply. Great.

I swear to fuck.

"Yes?" I said.

"It's in your notes, can't you read?"

"I didn't take notes. I literally just got here yesterday."

"I'll give you a copy of them at the end of class."

I sighed, wanting to get my work done now and out of the way. I hated having homework.

Tobias, who was sitting a few seats away from me, passed a folded up paper to me. Oh god, was this the stereotypical note that said "Do you like me? Yes or no?" I took it while making awkward eye contact with him.

 _You can copy the notes I bothered to take. She's gonna forget all about lending you her copy in about five minutes._

I scribbled down a response and tossed it on his desk. Miss Simian was too preoccupied with her book to care.

 _Thanks fam._

A few moments later I was handed a notebook and the paper.

 _You wanna come to a party this Friday? It's at my house from 6-10 PM._

Not even my second day here and I'm already invited to my first high school party? What would even happen? I don't know anybody at this school besides three people. It would be really awkward… right? Or would it actually be the time of my life? I didn't know.

Sigh. Fuck it, what do I have to lose, right?

I wrote down a yes and handed it back to him, not really concerned with anything else. Now the party was all I could think about. What kind of food would be there? Or games? Music? I had no idea. My high school life so far was in shambles. And by shambles, I mean I never got out of the house besides to go to school. I would sit at home all day and not hang out with the few friends I had. And even those ones turned their backs on me.

Except for Sunny.

Good fuck, I could write novels about that boy.

 _April 13th, morning._

 _Since this is a fairly fresh journal, I might as well write info about my life in here, right? Not like anyone's gonna read this. But it'll be cool to have something to look back on. Alright, I'll start with my social life._

 _The only friends I had back in my hometown were Grace, Hailey, and Sunny. Grace and Hailey barely stuck around me. In fact, I don't even know why they bothered to talk to me. You'd expect hundreds of the kids to come flocking around me because my dad was well-known to them. But no, it was the opposite. I never knew why the other kids did that. Maybe it was because I was always quiet. But anyways, again, they never bothered to talk to me, let alone contact me outside of school. My friendship with them ended after Hailey told me off, saying that I was a bland and quiet person, and that nobody would ever want me. It hurt a lot to hear that from one of the only people I talked to. So of course I took it hard._

 _For weeks, I would think about it. I would try to change myself. Be more social. But… I just couldn't. I finally accepted around the end of freshman year that this was me. I can't change who I am. And if they don't like me then so what? Someone will._

 _And that's when I met Sunny. The back of our history class on the first day of sophomore year. We both sat next to each other in the corner. It was kind of weird, because everyone else was up at the front. And if they looked back here, it was like seeing boyfriend and girlfriend. The first time I saw him, I'm not gonna lie, I thought he had the body of a god. He was tall, had the most beautiful, long black hair, and wore this flannel that made me want to rip it off and wear it myself. Oh god, that sounds creepy. Fuck._

 _Okay, moving on, we hit it off like instantly. We both had the same personality. Weeks passed by and he asked for my number so we could hang out sometime. Both of my parents were surprised when I brought him to my house. Of course he told my dad that he liked his music and that it was an honor to meet him. But other than that, he treated me normally. And I actually appreciated it. I didn't want to be put on a pedestal anyways._

 _During the time he was there, I found out a lot of his interests fast. Video games, the type of music he liked, what he did in his free time, things like that. Ever since then we've been the closest of friends._

 _He has other friends and introduced me to them a few times. They're all the opposite of me: loud and rowdy. I enjoy their company. It's nice being around such good vibes. Unfortunately I don't give off that many good vibes because I'm quiet all the time._

 _That's all about my social life in my hometown. I haven't quite made a name for myself in Elmore just yet. But I will soon, hopefully. This party might be an opportunity._

 _Peace out._

The hours passed, and it was gym class again. We did dodgeball, I got out as usual, and sat on the sidelines. Tobias actually did good this time, being one of the only people left in the game. He was up against this girl named Jamie. Really short, like me, and had light green skin. She seemed aggressive.

"Come on, Tobias! You got this!" Gumball shouted.

"Yeah, she's not that hard to hit!" Darwin screamed.

"Fuck off!" Jamie retorted, making the two of them flinch. "I'm throwing the ball at you when I get the chance!"

Tobias picked up a ball and aimed it. Time seemed to slow as he whipped it across the gym. It headed straight for her chest, but she quickly turned to the side and missed it.

"Weak! Watch how the pro does it!"

And with that, she flung the ball so fast, that I had trouble registering how Tobias was on the floor in two seconds.

"That's game!" Miss Simian said after blowing her whistle. "Go change, and wait until the bell rings to go to your next class!"

"That's it?" I asked. "But we still have 20 minutes left."

"Neff, I want to stop teaching right now and just relax. You guys don't have to suffer for the time being," she said to me, before walking out of the gym.

"Alright, motherfucker, what did you say back there?" I heard Jamie say as she stomped over towards Darwin. This could be trouble.

"I uh, I said that you weren't hard to hit! You know, because your head is.. big… and…"

"I have a big head, huh? Well just wait until your head is just as big as mine from being swollen!" She raised her fist up, and I sprung into action. I ran towards her and caught her fist just as it was about to hit the fish straight between his eyes.

"Now hang on just a minute! Can't we all be cool here?!" I asked nervously. I really shouldn't have done this. Now my nervousness was settling in. Why did I have to wing it and then chicken out once I was actually winging it?

"New girl? What are you doing?!" Jamie demanded, swatting my hand away and backing up. I gulped and shuffled next to Darwin.

"I just don't want any trouble to happen, that's all!" I exclaimed, hoping I wouldn't get punched in the face next. "I mean is punching him really worth it? It's a nice day out, the school day is almost over, do you really want his comment to ruin it?"

Jamie stared at me like I was stupid. Which I probably was for doing that. She shook her head with a blank expression on her face, her mouth slightly open.

"Jesus, there are rational thinkers from the outside world? Maybe this planet ain't as fucked as it seems." She turned and walked to the locker room.

How did I manage to pull that off…?

"Neff… how…" Darwin whispered. His voice was squeaky, and he sounded like he just had a near-death experience.

"I just… I… I DON'T KNOW!" I shouted. Everyone was looking at me strange, and I hauled ass to the locker room, slinging my bag over my shoulder.

I hid in a bathroom stall and slid down against it to the floor, breathing heavily. I couldn't think of a more embarrassing moment. That was rational thinking? How? I could have gotten punched in the face just like Darwin almost did! Unzipping my bag, I reached in there and got my phone out. Only an hour left until I could go home. Along with the time being on the screen, a text message from half an hour ago was there as well.

Speak of the devil, it was Sunny. His phone was back on.

 _How's Elmore? I miss you. It's too loud here now, I have no silence to enjoy with someone._

Blood rushed to my cheeks and I started shaking. Did I fail to mention that I was head over heels in love with this guy?

"He misses me…" I said to myself. A big grin spread across my face and I texted him back.

 _It's alright I guess. I miss you too. Come down here sometime, my room is the quietest one in the house._

 _April 13th, afternoon._

 _Well, Sunny texted me saying he misses me. And I could not be more happy. I just got home and had nothing else better to do. It's really lonely here, to be honest. Hopefully that will change after the party. That is, if my dad even lets me go._

 _I had a vision last night. Really strange. My parents split up and they were talking to my doctor about a condition I had. I think it's just my mind fucking with me. But it seemed so real at the same time. Like I was there with them. Like I could reach out and touch them. I heard in this kids movie a long time ago that some dreams are so powerful that they become real. What was it,_ Sharkboy and Lavagirl _? Yeah, that's it. Great movie. 10/10._

 _Again, just my mind fucking with me. I should write to mom before I forget. I had no time at all today to actually think about what to say to her. Wait, I lied. I did. I was too busy writing about my life. Fucking selfish._

I sat there on my bed for an hour writing out a detailed letter to her. It was about things going on, the incident with my dad, and how he cut off all contact between her and I. I hope she never sent any texts or called. I don't want her to think I was ignoring her.

After having a semi-boring day, I went to bed.

" _Gumball, Darwin, I need to talk to you both."_

" _What's up Tobias?" Darwin responded. They both sat in the library at the computers when Tobias came up to them._

" _That party this weekend. I should tell you guys what's going to happen at least. Rob's gonna hook us up with some weed and alcohol, kind of a celebration for the year almost ending."_

" _It's kind of early for that, isn't it? It's only April," Darwin said nervously._

" _Plus our mom is gonna kill us if we came home fucked up," Gumball responded._

" _I understand that. But my parents aren't gonna be gone again until July. And I want to celebrate the end of this school year since it was literally the hardest one for all of us," Tobias explained._

" _SATs are gonna be worse next year."_

" _Yeah, okay, the point is that's what's happening at the party. No peer pressure. It's completely optional," Tobias said, backing away slowly and holding his hands in front of him._

What the hell kind of dream was that?

Tobias couldn't be like that, could he? And who was Rob? I've never heard of him before. This had to be my mind fucking with me again. It had to.

I woke up just in time again, so I got ready and headed to school. The thoughts of the dream were on my mind all morning until I made it to school. The letter was in my bag. I really hoped that they could mail this. I had nowhere else for a reply to be sent to that was safe. If it came to our house, my dad would throw it out. All contact with my mom was cut off for whatever reason. It sucked.

I still didn't know why we moved here.

"Can you please mail this letter for me, possibly?" I asked the secretary who I met on my first day. She still looked annoyed.

"What is it for, kid?" she responded, not looking up from her computer.

"It's for my mom. If she sends back a letter, can you give it to me?"

"Why can't you send it from your house?"

"My dad doesn't want me talking to her for whatever reason."

She stayed quiet for a moment before sighing. Sticking out her hand, she said, "Alright, give it here. But I'm not gonna be your mail carrier. One time, and one time only. Got it?"

"Yes, thank you!" I exclaimed, handing it to her.

Around the end of the school day, Tobias sat next to me in class. It was hot and sticky inside of the classroom. But I really missed this hot weather. My hometown had some Wisconsin type weather. It was almost always cold, and it pissed me off. I hated the cold.

We were working on some worksheet, I didn't really bother to read what it was about. My mind was stuck on the dreams I've been having for the past two days. I was tempted to ask Tobias about it, but part of me held back because I didn't want to find out that he was actually bringing those things to the party. I wanted to go really badly. So I chose ignorance.

There was quiet chatter in the classroom as everyone was working. Miss Simian had headphones on, reading some book about child discipline. Was she reading it to use on us?

"So, I never really got to know you that well," Tobias said to me. "Tell me your interests. You're my friend. You're coming to my party. It would be nice to know some things."

"What exactly do you want to know?" I responded.

"Hobbies, favorites, background info. Stuff like that."

"Well…"

I started explaining to him in great detail about everything. I didn't have many hobbies besides watching TV and reading a book every now and then. But TV was mostly my life. I could tell him all about this new show that came out recently called _Under the Waves_. I sounded like a no-life when I told him. But he really didn't seem to mind.

I had a lot of favorites, so it was hard to choose. My number one favorite food had to be cheesecake. Any kind, I didn't care which. I had a bad habit of eating too many snacks. Recently I gained ten pounds since last month because chips were so tempting. There was always soda in the house. We had a whole doomsday stockpile downstairs of it. It's all my dad and I drank, even at the old house. But the way our bodies work, the effects of caffeine made us crash easily, more easily than other species, which explains why I love sleeping. It was like drinking Nyquil straight from the bottle.

Once I told Tobias about my background info, I tried to keep it as on topic as I could. There were so many parts of my life that I remember that didn't have to do with me. I talked and talked until the bell rang. We didn't even get our work done.

"Shit, I'm sorry. We didn't get much done," I said, looking down at the worksheet.

"Don't worry about it," he said, getting up, "It's not that big of a deal. We still have tomorrow."

"Are you sure?" I asked nervously.

"Positive. I also want to thank you for yesterday, when you stopped Jamie from beating Darwin's ass. She seriously was going to do it; over the years she's gotten worse with everyone." He grabbed his backpack and started heading out of the classroom.

I rubbed the back of my head nervously and smiled. "Yeah, it's nothing. Darwin's cool, so I mean, I had to stop him from getting hit."

Before leaving, he stood in the doorway and looked over at me. "It's good to see that someone still cares about the status of their friends."

It was raining by the time I got home. My dad hasn't talked to me at all since yesterday when it was 3 in the morning. I was starting to think that maybe the cycle was starting again. We wouldn't talk for about a week, and then eventually I gave in. But this time, I had nothing to give in to. He apologized, so he was the one that gave in. Weird. The tables turned.

I ended up making myself a sandwich and sat on the couch to watch TV when my phone lit up. A text message from Sunny.

 _Do you know when you're coming back here? I want to see you._

My heart fluttered. He told me that countless times in the past. But this time, it was special.

 _Not sure. I sent my mom a letter about what's been going on. I also included at the bottom if I could come back there soon._

A few minutes later he replied.

 _Can you call? It's easier than texting. Plus there's a lot to say._

I got up from the couch and went upstairs to my room, bringing my sandwich with. I stepped out on my balcony and slid the door closed. The rain had stopped, and a beam of light came from a hole in the clouds. From up here, the neighborhood looked peaceful. My house was in a cul de sac, with other houses exactly like mine. The downside was that it wasn't in the busy city like I was used to. I brought some of the potted plants with me from the old house. They now sat in the corners of my balcony.

I sat on there, swinging my legs off the edge in between the fence posts and dialed Sunny's number.

 _Ring… ring… ring… ring…_

"Hello?"

It felt so good to hear his voice again.

"Hey," I said calmly. On the inside I was bursting with happiness.

"Jesus, you sound different. It's only been a few days since I last saw you," he said on the other end.

"Well, uh, I don't really know how. I already hit puberty. My voice isn't changing anytime soon."

"Funny. How are things? Does school suck?" he asked.

"School… is good, I guess. Still learning the ropes of Elmore. I made like three friends, but that's about it," I explained.

"What friends?"

"Some dudes named Gumball, Darwin, and Tobias."

"Gumball? Weird name."

I snorted. "I haven't really gone anywhere besides school and home. My dad would get lost too easily in this town."

"Well, that's what happens when you live in one place all your life."

There was silence, since my mind was blank. I couldn't think of anything to really say. Should I talk about the argument? The strange dreams? The party? The new house? For some reason, whenever I opened my mouth, no words came out. I didn't know what to say.

"You there?" Sunny said on the other end.

"Y-yeah," I said quietly. "I just… don't know what to talk about."

"It's all good. I'm visiting your mom more often, just checking in on her. I'll ask her soon if you can come up here. The pool misses you."

God, I loved that fucking pool.

"I miss it too," I said, laughing. "Our pool here is just… eh."

"Shit, my mom needs me to help cook. I'll text you later, alright?"

"Oh, yeah it's fine. I…"

"You what?" he asked.

"I… want to see you soon."

Fuck, was I just going to say I love him?

"It'll happen. Talk to you later."

"Bye," I said, my chest dropping. I wanted to keep talking to him. This has never happened before, where I lost my words. Why did I do that? Was it possible that I was falling more in love with him?

I set my phone down besides me and stared up into the sky, sighing. I blew it. But what if I actually did tell him I love him? How would he react? And over the phone? In person would have been much better.

"Ugh, this is so fucking frustrating!" I shouted. I've never been in a relationship before! How does one "relationship"?! I need to know, because what if he loves me back? Or is the best friend status going to be there forever?

There was a knock on my balcony door, and I turned to see my dad looking at me. I couldn't believe he wanted to make conversation after not doing it for almost two days.

"Yeah?" I asked. He opened the door and stepped out. He looked so much like me that it was scary. The only difference was the size of our ears, height, and the fact that he had no hair. It seems that all the men in our family have no hair, and all the women have really long hair. But let's admit, long hair is really beautiful if treated properly. I'm proud of it.

"You wanna go out to dinner? I found this good Asian place downtown," he said casually. Acting like nothing happened just yesterday, huh? Or, he was actually over it. Either way we must be on good terms again.

"Yeah, will you get lost though?" I asked, cracking a joke to lighten the mood.

"I found out my phone had GPS this entire time, so I think I won't have problems anymore," he responded, smiling.

"I'm still gonna eat my sandwich when we get back."

Downtown Elmore was booming with business. The sky cleared, revealing a sun that was setting. It made all of the buildings glow a soft orange color. Hundreds of faces were walking on the sidewalks, along with a heavy flow of traffic. It must be rush hour.

We pulled up to an Asian restaurant on the busy street. I put 40 cents in the parking meter and we headed inside. The second I stepped through those doors, the overwhelming delicious smell of Asian food flooded on me. The sesame chicken, sushi, fish, stir fry, white rice, all of those smells and more.

"Thanks for taking me here," I said to my dad as we sat down at a booth.

"Not a problem," he responded, looking at his menu.

The party was tomorrow, so now seemed like a perfect opportunity to ask if I could go. He was in a good mood, which meant his answer would most likely be a yes. Score.

Just before I opened my mouth, the waiter came up to us. He was a really tall guy with a big rock head. Skinny and nervous. His name tag read "Laurence".

"Hi, welcome. Can I start you guys off with any drinks tonight?"

Leaning his elbow on the table, my dad rested his head in his hand and stared at Laurence. He was giving him an odd look.

"Laurence. Larry. Can I call you that?" he asked the waiter. Laurance was taken aback by this and looked around quickly.

"Um, yes. Sir."

"You're nervous. Why is that? Everyone else here is relaxed, but you seem to be the only tense one."

What was my dad even trying to attempt?

"I'm… nervous?" Larry asked, surprised.

"That nervous smile. How tightly you're holding your notepad. You're shaking slightly. And now, there's sweat dripping down your face. Is something wrong?"

Larry swallowed and wiped the sweat off his face, all while smiling the same nervous smile that he had since we first saw him. Something was in fact troubling him. But why did my dad point it out?

"Well, to be honest, yes. But I'm not allowed to talk about personal issues at work. My boss wouldn't… like it."

My dad sighed. "It's your boss, isn't it?"

"Eh- what?"

"Is he the reason you're nervous?"

Larry began to twiddle his thumbs. It was obvious what the answer was. My dad got out of the booth and looked around. He was the same height as Larry. Seeing both of them next to each other like that made me feel even more small. The thing is, I'm not tall at all. Not even moderate height. I'm little. Tiny. A mere 4 feet and 10 inches. If you count my ears, I was a lot taller. Big ears, I know. The only reason I was this small was because I was born premature. I'm thankful that it only affected my height.

I switch subjects too often.

"I'll be back," my dad said. He walked over to the kitchen where this tiny purple bear was standing in the doorway. Larry and I watched in terror as my dad walked over to him.

"What is he doing?!" I exclaimed. That bear was about the size of a cinder block. Suddenly I didn't feel so small anymore.

"I don't know. But my boss isn't exactly the most tolerant person when it comes to customer complaints... If that's what your dad is even doing," Larry responded. He took his white and red striped hat off and squeezed it.

My dad bent down and talked to the bear, who stared at him with a confused look on his face. Suddenly his eyes widened and he ran to the kitchen. His little legs looked so adorable running. I giggled a little. The smug smirk on my dad's face scared me as he walked back over to us and sat down.

"You don't need to worry anymore, Larry. He'll be helping us tonight."

What did he fucking do?

"Uh, alright. Have a good night you two." The rock man scurried off to another table.

I looked over at my dad with a blank face. "Why?" I simply asked.

"It isn't the first time I saw an employee scared by their own boss. So I told him who I was and he immediately said he would get off everyone's asses."

"I don't understand."

"I'm just trying to be less of an asshole and help people. And I'm sorry for all the emotional abuse I might have put you through, and physical. I know you might not forgive me anytime soon. But an apology was due," he explained.

Rewind. Fucking rewind.

"I'm just trying to be less of an asshole and help people."

Did I just hear…

"...less of an asshole…"

Inside I was doing a wide, ugly grin. On the outside my mouth was agape in surprise. Here he was. Sitting in front of me, saying how he basically wanted to better himself. And for what? Me? Because he has a new life? Karma? Did that doctor dude brainwash him or something?

I started crying.

"Why are you crying? What's wrong?" he asked, worried.

"I'm just really happy right now," I sobbed, putting my head in my hands. This was great. No sarcasm; it really was. Life's been shit for the past week, and this was such an uplift.

"Things will be better from now on. Even if mom isn't here."


	3. Suspension Buildup! The Party!

**Suspension Buildup! The Party!**

In which Neff starts living a little, and her problem grows bigger.

~x~

 _April 14th, evening._

 _I just got back from this kickass Asian place. This is probably the best night in Elmore I've had so far. My dad promised to be less of an asshole. He proved himself by getting this waiter's boss off his back, so I know he's not lying. He apologized for all the abuse he caused me and I started crying. Things might just be getting better. Along with that, he said yes to the party; so that's a plus. He was glad that I had friends. Of course, he set some rules. Be careful, and if I crossed the line, he'd send me with my mom back home immediately._

 _I talked to Sunny on the phone today. He's been checking in on mom to make sure she's doing alright. He misses me. I miss him. Something weird happened too. I couldn't find words to say when I usually always have something to say to him. I think I might just be falling for him a bit harder. That isn't good, considering I can't even see him. Our relationship would be dependent on texting and calling. But honestly that's the least of my worries._

 _I'm more concerned about these dreams I've been having. I hope mom has an answer for them when I mailed the letter. I also asked her why my dad and I moved away. She never really hid things from me unless they were surprises._

 _On the bright side, I'm bringing leftover Chinese for lunch tomorrow. Ayyyy._

It was finally Friday. The day of the party. I didn't know what to expect. I surely hoped that the dream I had wasn't real, even if it was like I could reach out to them and touch them.

Outside I could hear birds in the trees. It was always calming to hear that. Already I could tell that today was going to be good. My dad and I were on good terms, it was nice out, and I was going to a party later on tonight.

"Kid, you have a letter."

I was walking past the office to my first class when the secretary stopped me. Wait, already? A reply from mom?

"That was fast," I commented as she handed it to me.

"Now remember, no more after this. I hope you got whatever issue you had, solved."

I nodded and walked to class. After sitting in my desk, I carefully tore it open.

 _It's finally good to hear from you. I'm angry that your father cut off your contact with me. I figured that out after I tried calling and texting and got responses saying that the number was cut off. Knowing him, he'd never cut off your phone._

 _First off, I'm going to explain those dreams you've been having. You told me all about this doctor that explained a condition, disorder, whatever the hell it is. That dream is actually exactly what happened. Any visions you might have in the future are real, too. Do not ignore them. In fact, it's a tool for you to use. Your condition is real, Neff._

 _Next, you also told me about a dream that you had that involved your father and I arguing. Again, it was real. There's no need to explain if you saw it all._

 _I'm sorry about what happened. But maybe you are safer in Elmore, even though I wanted those scientists to return you to normal. I know now that you deserve freedom. I tried talking things out with your father. He won't listen to me, because he said he already quit his career, and coming back to Mau5ville would mean facing a bunch of shit from everybody. The media. Paparazzi. Fans. He doesn't want to deal with it. Did he tell you that he retired already? Only 35 years old and he never has to work again. He knows how to make those millions last until he dies. In a past life he was probably some sort of financial expert. Not that you believe in that stuff, but it's still interesting to think about._

 _I'll talk to him about you coming up here for the summer. I'm considering moving down there, but I don't know if your grandparents will be around much longer, so I'm holding off on it. Sunny's been coming over a lot, helping around the house and watching Amaya when she comes over. They both miss you._

 _I'll talk to you soon. I'll also convince your father to stop cutting off contact with me. This letter stays between us. He won't know, okay?_

 _I love you._

I slumped in my seat, reading it over and over again. All those visions were true. My parents arguing, my condition, what Tobias was going to bring to the party, it was all real. I had this ability to see into the fucking past. How was that possible? I wasn't even there when those events happened!

And psychos are hunting people like me down?!

My dad was even more right about not being an asshole. He saved my fucking life.

The first thing my brain did after registering all of that was make me go into hysterics. I started laughing loudly and eventually got to hyperventilating. The entire class was staring at me. I couldn't stop laughing and breathing heavily. That was when I got to crying. Oh god, I've been in hysterics once before. I don't remember why, but this time was definitely worse.

I fell off of my seat and curled up into a ball, shaking violently.

Then I started sobbing.

"Dude, someone get the nurse in here!" I heard Gumball shout. Everyone helped move the desks that were surrounding me, away, so I could have room.

"Jesus, I haven't witnessed hysterics like this in forever. She needs to just let it out. The nurse can't help with that!" a ghost girl yelled. Fuck, this was so embarrassing.

"She also needs to talk to someone, doesn't she?" another girl asked.

"No, no please! I don't want to talk about this!" I shouted. I curled up tighter.

The ghost girl shook her head. "Just let her be. It'll surpass."

For 15 minutes I was on the floor in a ball, trying my hardest to calm down. Everyone eventually got back to work, but I knew they were still cautious about me.

I have a condition that people are out there kidnapping for. I'm in fucking danger no matter where I am. There could be people in this school hunting for me. I had no safe place here. That made me worry even more. All because of this stupid condition, they split up. My life changed forever because I was born with this stupid fucking defect. Maybe this was another result of being born premature.

I needed someone to hold me. Not talk. Just hold.

I needed Sunny.

This was terrible. Everything was crashing down on me at once. Without even knowing it, I had bottled up my emotions about this over the past few days. After the realization of everything, it hit me hard. I have a condition. I have a condition. There's something mentally wrong with me. People are hunting people like me down. I wasn't safe. We moved for safety. But the reality is that I'm not safe. Nowhere.

Mom was fucking right.

But if I wanted to get rid of this condition, I would have to go back to Mau5ville and talk to V3ll. The doctor. If it means being in a lab until I'm 18 then so be it. I don't want to live in fear. But what could possibly make my dad send me back home? I never did bad things. I didn't know how to do bad things. The two things I know that pissed him off were drugs and the police. He has a lot of history with cops. Mostly it involved getting pulled over for an autograph or speeding.

Then it hit me.

The party. The party! The vision was right! I could come home completely fucked and piss my dad off. Then he'll send me back home!

I sat up and looked around. A few people glanced at me. I could tell they thought I looked like a mess. My eyes were red from crying, my hair was stuck to my face from the tears, my tail was all tangled up, and I was still shaking.

"I'm… good now. Just forget about this. I'll be okay," I said as I got up. I moved my desk back to its original spot and slowly sat back down. "Seriously."

"Neff, unless you have a medication for what just happened, then I'm obligated to report this," Miss Simian said.

"I do," I lied.

"What medication?" she asked suspiciously.

"Lexapro... 10 mg. It's for anxiety."

Miss Simian gave me a blank stare before looking back down at her book she was reading. I mentally sighed in relief. If my dad found out about this, he would no doubt get suspicious. I didn't want him finding out about the letter. On top of that, I would be sent to a therapist. They don't do much for help except listen to your problems.

"Dude, you sure you're okay?" Tobias asked me once class ended. We stood next to the lockers right outside of the room.

"Yeah, yeah, it happens a lot," I lied. "Don't worry about it."

"Well guess what? The party is tonight. Can you go?"

"Of course," I said, smiling widely. "There gonna be anything there?"

"Oh yeah. My friend Rob has the hookup. I need your number too to text you the address." I nodded, and he gave me his phone to put it in his contacts. For the contact photo, I did a scrunched up face and held up a peace sign. He laughed at it.

On another note, this was real. I knew ahead of time what was happening before he even told me.

"Good. I'd love to do that with you guys."

"Cool, cool!" Tobias said, taking his phone back. Suddenly, he gave me a quick hug and waved goodbye before walking off. "See you tonight!"

The hug took me by surprise. I didn't expect it at all. It was probably nothing. Just a friendly thing to do.

The rest of the school day I was filled with excitement. Tobias and I texted back and forth about what he had planned for the party. Weed and alcohol were a few things, like my condition told me. I've never been high before. I heard it's a blissful thing, though. Being drunk and high should be enough to piss off my dad and have him send me back home. Everything was going according to plan.

It just sucks that I'll be leaving Elmore as soon as I made new friends.

"Right, so if you're gonna go home high, you should know that you just have to act normal. Try not to make it obvious," Tobias explained as we walked through the hallways.

"Never been high before," I said.

"Really? Well then! I'm glad this first time will be with us!"

"Who is 'us'?" I asked.

"Me, Rob, and you."

"What about everyone else?"

Tobias snorted. "You think there's enough weed for 30 people?"

I looked at the ground. Right. It was freakishly expensive. "Oh."

Tobias laughed. "It's cool. You're new to the whole thing. I'll teach ya."

I nodded. We walked out of the school to have a wave of heat greet us. It felt so good. I saw my dad's car down the street waiting for me.

"I gotta head out then," I said. "Should I come early or fashionably late?"

"Doesn't matter. I'll see you tonight!" he exclaimed. I noted that he ran really fast to his bus. Maybe it was because he was athletic. We were polar opposites in that category. In fact, with a lot of things we were polar opposites. He was always outside doing something. Rarely inside. Meanwhile being inside is all I do. But once in a great while, if I'm in the mood, I'll be in the pool all day.

Ironically I can't swim.

Yeah, I can't swim for shit.

Our old pool was six feet deep, and went up to four feet deep because of me. I smiled, remembering how Sunny would have to hold me in the water if I wanted to go to the deep end.

My dad had some heavy metal song blasting as I got in the car, my favorite.

"You ready for the party tonight?" he asked, smiling. I nodded and smiled back.

"Gonna be lit," I commented.

"Lit?"

"Lit. It means, uh, cool, fun, amazing, stuff like that."

"I know. I've just never heard you say that to me before. Is it something your friends taught you?"

I thought for a moment. "I can't remember."

"You kids and your slang. When I was your age, we used completely different terms."

"Really?" I asked, chuckling. "The old 'when I was your age' talk?"

"Oh yeah," he said, "I got a bunch of stories about when I was a kid." He went on and on about how his high school life was. But when he got to the part of meeting my mom, his sentences got shorter until they eventually stopped. They met at a tattoo shop, when my dad had to pay back one of his friends that worked there. My mom was getting a tattoo of a dove on her thigh when they made this wonderful eye contact. Six months later, I was conceived. Gross to talk about. They were both 18 when this went down. I don't know how they made it raising me at such a young age. But once my dad got famous, all of those troubles washed away.

Some part of me wishes he wanted to go back to his career and not care about what other people bitched at him for.

"Do you miss mom?" I asked as we got onto the freeway.

"It's complicated. Things just didn't work out between us," he said. "I still love her. I'll be honest about that. But just… it's not working anymore."

I remained silent. Knowing everything, I was trying to catch him lying. But he wasn't really lying when he said things weren't working out anymore. They reached a stalemate. Both of them thought that was the best for me. And I'll admit, both ways are just as good. But I'd rather take the risk of dying to save myself from dying in the hands of a psycho. Living in fear for the rest of my life was not something I wanted.

We made it home, and I went upstairs to put together an outfit for the party. My closet was just filled with t-shirts and jeans. I had no blouses, skirts, or dresses. But then again, this wasn't a formal party. It was a classic high school party.

"T-shirt and shorts it is. It's too hot for jeans."

I got ready within an hour and a half and headed downstairs. The clock on the wall read 4:19. I stared at it, waiting for the next minute to come up.

4:20.

I put on a pair of sunglasses and pointed at the clock. "AYYYY."

"What are you doing?" my dad asked, laughing as he came in the hallway.

"Memes!" I shouted on impulse.

He gave me a confused look. I smiled awkwardly back at him. It was then that I realized how close we were getting. I was being myself around him without getting embarrassed. As much as I enjoyed it, I had to get back to Mau5ville. If I played my cards right, I would be out of here by tomorrow. When he says "immediately", he means within the next day.

"...Right. You okay? You running a fever or something?"

"No, I'm just myself!" I exclaimed happily. He smiled back at me.

We ended up watching a few episodes of _Under the Waves_ together until it was time to go. He didn't seem very interested in it. It was one of those sappy girl shows that has one man dating a girl who's in love with another married man. Love triangles everywhere. It's hard to keep track of who wants to fuck who.

"So Maverick wants to date Lucy, but he's in love with…?"

"Julia," I finished for him. "And then you got Tracy over here who wants both Richard and Franklin. She can't choose which one. But she's also pregnant with Derek's ch-"

"Right, right, It's 6, should we go?"

I jumped up from the couch and headed towards the front door. I was seriously too excited for this party. I could smell the city again thinking of how close I was to going back there. I would see the tall skyscrapers, the wonderful pier that overlooked the ocean, and all of the good restaurants.

"Almost home," I whispered to myself. "Almost out of this shit situation."

Tobias' house was out in the suburbs. Of course he was rich. With all the expensive watches I see him wearing, I knew he was too good to steal them. There were a bunch of balloons tied to the mailbox, and some confetti sprawled out on the walkway up to his door. A few people were on the porch chatting when I walked up to the door. I couldn't tell whether I was nervous or excited.

I slowly opened the door and peeked inside. There was some rap song playing on the speakers that made my chest go along with the pounding bass The house was already packed with people. Vibrantly colored balloons were on the ceiling with a disco ball. I couldn't see much else. I weaved my way through the crowd of people, searching for Tobias.

I found him in the kitchen talking to the ghost girl from earlier today.

"Neff, there you are!" he exclaimed.

"Hey, I just got here," I said nervously. The girl stared at me with a half smile on her face.

"You're the girl from my first hour," she commented. "I'm Carrie. You doing alright? That was some hysteria."

"Yeah, perfectly fine."

"Right, so, in about half an hour Rob is getting here with everything. Then we're going to the park," Tobias commented.

"Aw, smoking without me?" Carrie joked.

"It's a special occasion. We got a new member of the squad," Tobias said, putting his arm around me.

Here I was, feeling accepted into the part of student body that loved to do bad things. My first and only week here was a blast. I had to make the most of this. Because once I got to Mau5ville, I was not coming back. I wanted to stay up there with my normal life and be normal like I always thought I was. And even if I died up there, at least I died in a city that brought me joy and serenity.

"Just be careful. That asshole donut cop is lurking around the neighborhood," Carrie said, floating away. Tobias and I went out into the living room. The crowd of people had gotten bigger, and I still couldn't see two feet in front of me without being towered over. I followed him like a lost puppy while he talked to everyone about the party. Pizzas were getting delivered later by Larry, the same guy from the Asian restaurant.

"Does he work two jobs or something?" I asked Tobias.

"He works EVERYWHERE in Elmore, Neff. I don't know how he does it."

"Wait, what?"

"You heard me. Everywhere. Everyone knows who he is," Tobias explained.

"Doesn't he hate it?"

"He does, but dude's making mad bank. Last thing I heard, he went from a house in the slums to a penthouse apartment."

"How long did that take?"

"Oh, about a day. Word got out that his boss at the Asian place downtown gave him a huge bonus. He took out a lot of his money from the bank and bought one on the top floor of the Rainbow Building."

My dad changed someone's life within a day. How did that even work?

"You're lying," I commented, "no way he could have done all of that in a day."

"With all the money he had saved up? It's possible," Tobias said. He had a point. Larry's living like Larry.

I'm not even funny.

"Rob's getting here in a moment. Let's wait outside."

We stepped out on the porch and sat on the steps. It was weird waiting for someone I didn't even know to bring us weed. The evening made the sky turn somewhat purple and dark blue. The ground was getting dark, but the sky was still light. Did that make sense? It was one of those days.

Sitting here gave me time to recollect what happened in the time I was here. In reality it wasn't even a week that I was here; just five days. Five days were enough to turn my life around completely. But I wasn't about to let that happen. I needed to get back home. I was convinced this whole moving thing wasn't even supposed to happen. It was just a space in my life that was fucked up. I wasn't meant to know these people or even know this town. So why did I even talk to anyone on my first day? Why did I make friends without even trying? I shouldn't have. And now, without even knowing it, I was officially attached. I was attached to Tobias. To this town. Not even a week and I was beginning to settle in. I knew I had to leave before things got serious. It was like having a crush. You catch feelings for them when you know it wasn't meant to be, so you have to stop liking them before you fall even harder.

I was already in love with Sunny. I didn't need to be in love with this place as well.

A red sedan pulled up in front of the house, and a blue cyclops got out of the passenger seat. He had long brown hair that went to his shoulders, a pair of red shorts, and a yellow and brown striped shirt. Instantly I knew this was Rob. He gave off that vibe, like "Yup, this is the guy that we're getting high with."

"Rob, what's up?" Tobias asked, getting up. I got up too, and we walked over to him as he walked towards us. In his hand was a large grocery bag with brown paper bags inside. It was the alcohol. He had a backpack on as well.

"Nothing much, my man. Is this Neff?" he asked, looking at me. "She's so tiny."

A blush spread across my face, embarrassed.

"Yeah, this is her," Tobias responded, laughing. "We ready to go?"

"Lemme drop this off inside first. The park is like a block away, there's no rush." Rob walked past us and went up the stairs inside.

"I'm gonna tell you now, you're new to this. I doubt you know how to smoke properly. It's NO big deal. We'll teach you. So don't be embarrassed, alright?" Tobias said, putting his hands on my shoulders.

"A-alright." I was slightly nervous about this. I heard all about what being high was like. But now that the time finally came for me to do it, I was freaking out. I didn't know why. They were going to teach me, what was the big deal?

It was then, after being lost in thought, that I realized Tobias still had his hands on my shoulders.

"Uh, what?" I asked nervously.

"Hm? OH, right!" He took them off my shoulders. "Sorry, I was thinking about how we were gonna do this."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean there's a lot of options. How much we're gonna do, how we're gonna do it, and what we're going to do after. So, so many options."

"...I'm completely oblivious to the world of drugs."

"Oh, I know. It's fine. You'll learn as time goes by."

It made me think. What if I liked it? Would I do it again in my hometown? I know that there was a lot of drug business back home. Everyone there had connections. But I knew nobody. It would be weird having an ex-celebrity's daughter buying off you. Would it go viral, or would it stay on the down low?

Why was I even debating this? This was one time and one time only. For the sake of going home!

Rob came back outside with his backpack still on. "You guys ready to reach the clouds?" he asked.

"Bet. Let's go," Tobias said.

"We'll show you the ropes, Neff. Don't you worry bout a thing," Rob said. All three of us began our walk to the park. It was weird how everyone was okay with the host of the party leaving for an hour or so to go do this. Shouldn't he be there with everyone having a good time? And what if something happens with that alcohol being there?

I hope he left someone in charge.

I was beginning to worry, but then I realized that the bad things are what I wanted. The more trouble I was in by the end of the night, the better. I was so used to doing good things, that I don't really know how to handle bad things well. The main thing I wanted was for my shitfaced behavior to be completely obvious to my dad by the time I got home. I could already see how things were going to play out. It was perfect.

Elmore's park looked really pretty at this time of day. It reminded me of the Darkroot Forest from Dark Souls, minus the flowers that lit up. There was a brick pathway past the black gate that lead deeper into the park. It had a lot of trees and looked more like a forest than a park. Rob moved a rag he had stuffed in the opening to open it and we continued walking. The sounds of crickets and owls could be heard. We walked down the brick path until we came to an intersection. We took a left, and then another right, stepping off the path and into the dense trees. We came up to a small wooden shack.

"Welcome," Rob said, slowly opening up the door, "to the Devil's Den."

"The Devil's Den?" I repeated.

"They call it that, because a long time ago, Satanic rituals were performed here. Elmore had a history of fighting off Satanism. They thought it would ruin the town, so there was a whole law against it. If you got caught with having something to do with it, you'd get executed," Tobias explained. "Thankfully after a while the past mayors realized that people could do what they want and stopped the hate."

"The town isn't ruined, nor would it have been," Rob said.

"Just a little history lesson on Elmore. You're staying for a while I'm assuming, right?"

I stayed quiet, not wanting to disappoint him. But if I lied, he would know. "I honestly don't know," I said.

"Well then we'll enjoy what time we have together," Rob said. We all stepped inside and Rob flipped a switch. There was a chain of Chinese lanterns that lit up the room. Two couches straight from the 70s were across from each other, on top of a floor covered with rugs of all colors. The windows were boarded up with several graffiti marks on them, and the walls were painted a shitty brown. There was an old box TV on top of a wooden end table. To complete the shack, there was a bathroom in the back with no door.

What if I had to pee…

"This is one of the most known smoke spots in Elmore. The shack isn't that big and hides well among the thousands of fucking trees in this park," Tobias explained.

"Let's get to it," Rob said. Tobias and I sat on one couch, while Rob sat on the one across from us. He set his backpack on the floor and opened it up. I watched in awe as he pulled out a small bong with random, but cool, stickers on it.

"A bong?" I asked.

"Bubbler," Rob corrected.

"Oh. Sorry."

Tobias laughed. "It's fine, Neff. We'll tell you about everything there is to know later, alright?"

I nodded slowly and continued to watch Rob. The next thing he pulled out was three water bottles. He tossed two at us.

"Just in case."

The bag of weed soon followed, and Rob got out a grinder for it. He tried making small talk as he grinded it up.

"So, Neff, tell us about yourself. Why'd you move to Elmore?"

"I… my parents kinda had a divorce and my dad wanted to move here," I explained, trying not to lie. I hated lying.

"Oh, sorry to hear about that. But why here of all places?"

"I actually don't know. I was told last minute, which pissed me off. It was all so sudden. One day I was just laying in my room watching TV all comfy, and the next I was on a train with my dad trying not to cry."

"Well I'm sure your mom is still trying to keep in contact with you, right?" Tobias asked.

"Yeah, I talked to her today," I said, remembering the letter. "I might see her soon." That is, if this whole thing went to plan.

Rob started putting the weed in the bowl and continued talking. "Elmore is alright. You just gotta hang around the right people. And you, my friend, have found the right ones."

"I'll keep that in mind," I responded.

The next ten minutes were a blur. I don't think my heart ever beat that fast in my life. Along with that, I was shaking and twitching a lot until my muscles just instantly relaxed. Of course my lungs burned as well and I felt like I was going to die.

"You alright?" Rob asked, laughing. It took me a moment to process what he said. I was just staring at the ceiling with my mouth slightly open.

"Yeah," I said after a minute.

"Dude she's fucking gone," Tobias laughed. I had the feeling of when you're about to fall asleep and your mind starts drifting, but I was still fully awake. This didn't feel real at all.

"You probably don't even want to move right now, huh?" Rob asked me, whipping out his phone. "No worries. Music would be bomb as fuck right now anyways." He turned on some Kanye West song and we all sat in silence listening.

" _I'm not loving you, the way I wanted to, what I had to do, had to run from you, I'm in love with you, but the vibe is wrong, and that haunted me, all the way home…_ "

By this time I was completely tripping out. It felt like my mind was playing the music, like it was all around me. I let my mind absorb the lyrics that went so smoothly. Now I know why a lot of people listen to rap music like this when they're high. You get lost in it.

The lyrics kept going, and only three minutes passed by. But in reality it felt like half an hour. I looked over at Tobias. He was bobbing his head up and down slowly. Rob was staring at the floor. This was the most peace I've had since I've been here. I was out of it, but in a good way. Like I didn't have a care in the world. But it was also scary, because everything was delayed as hell. I couldn't control my muscles very well either.

My mind wandered even more, and eventually I started playing my own song in my head. It wasn't me singing, but it was a song that played out perfectly. Was my brain making all of this up? I never heard it in my life.

"Let me ask you guys something," Rob said. "Are you high?"

"No," Tobias said. I looked over at him. He was giving me a look telling me to say the same.

"No," I lied. Wow I'm a hypocrite for lying. I was gone. If I smoked more I probably would die.

"Well guess what," Rob said. "We're about to head back and do some fucking shots. That'll fuck us up even more."

"Will I even be able to walk home?" I asked.

"Yeah, you'll do fine. Come on."

We all walked out of the shack, and Rob sprayed some strong cologne on us to mask the scent. I didn't even remember getting up until I actually thought about it. Every sound I heard felt like it was in my head after hearing it. The woods were lighter than I remembered. I could see every clear detail of the leaves, trees, and lightning bugs floating around us.

Was this fucking Nirvana?

"Neff, quit standing there with your mouth open and come on," Tobias said, laughing. I looked over at him, and both of them were smiling at me.

"God it's so fun to see someone's first time doing this. It's unpredictable what they'll do," Rob commented. I began to walk towards them, but I started stumbling a little. Shit, my muscles must have relaxed while I was standing there. I tumbled to the ground and it took me a moment to register what had happened.

I started laughing at my misfortune.

"Oh geez. Tobias get her up."

I was laughing as I saw Tobias walk over to me. He picked me up and hoisted me on his back. I was laughing at everything now. The way he was walking, the way Rob's hair swished once he turned, even the fact that it was dark out. Everything was funny!

Once we got to Tobias' house, it still looked lit. I could hear the music playing from out here. Tobias set me down and we walked inside. The smell of alcohol, pizza, and sweat greeted us, along with Carrie holding plates of pizza for us three.

"Munch time," she said, handing me a plate. I looked at the pizza. It looked really good. Once I sunk my teeth in it, my tastebuds fell in love. This was literally the best pizza I've tasted in my life.

"And you never fail to be a good friend, Carrie," Rob said. We went to the kitchen to see a few guys playing beer pong. There were bottles of alcohol on the counters, along with sodas and juice to mix them with. Everything was still slow motion. I didn't think I hit my peak yet. What would happen when I did? Would I completely black out?

Tobias poured some Vodka and mixed it with lemonade. He handed the cup to me.

"Straight vodka tastes like nail polish remover," he commented. I took the cup and drank from it.

It was downed within seconds.

"You sure there was Vodka in that?" I asked. "It was just lemonade to me."

"That's the point, Vodka tastes like shit."

"Ooohhhh."

"Plus you just saw me pour Vodka... eh never mind, you're high," he said.

"What?"

The night continued on. I had drink after drink, not remembering what I did a minute ago. The feeling was weird. And as even more time went by, I was stumbling everywhere. Drunk and high. This was it. Now all I had to do was wait for the party to end and I could go home.

I was having a lot of fun sitting in the corner having a little party by myself. Even though I was surrounded by about 50 people, I was all by myself. I enjoyed it. Tobias let me have the rest of one of the MANY bottles of alcohol. I poured fruit punch in it to get rid of the shitty taste.

"You're a new drinker, we don't expect you to drink it straight," Rob told me before. He was off somewhere in the house.

I stood up slowly and took another swig. I had massive munchies, and the fruit punch felt like heavenly liquid, if that makes sense.

I couldn't remember what I did the rest of the night there.

 _Ap l 101_

 _rite so im writng this on my phone bc i didnt bring m noteboo k. im drink as fuck haha. my dad sed he woold be here in ajlf an hour, i gotta sober up a bit so i can remembr wat the fuk is going on. tobis as dancing on the table and rob is crying lauging? i think hes having a seizure. its hard to talk kinda but i can manage. also i wonder if ill ever be this fuked again becaus this is some gooooooooOODOOODDDOOD SHIIIIIIT. F UC K THIS IS REALLY GOOD LIKE I DONT THINK I CoULD EVER BE THIS FUK ED AGAIN, I GOTT A TELL TOBIas that he needs to calm down and tell me and secrt f_

First thing I encounter when I wake up is this massive headache. I closed my eyes because the sunlight was too much. Back in my room again. Fuck, what went down with my dad? I can't remember anything after standing up and taking a last drink.

I opened my eyes again, and then my stomach felt like it collapsed on itself.

"FUCK," I screamed. I had to get to the bathroom. I got up and headed for the door. I stumbled a bit, and ended up tripping and falling on the floor. That made the upsetness of my stomach even worse. I almost threw up then and there.

I forced myself up and opened the door. It felt like I was in a movie going to the bathroom. I swung open the bathroom door and hurled over the toilet, letting all the contents of my stomach splatter into the toilet. The raw scent of alcohol came with them, which made me throw up even more. It burned so bad, and along with that I was still loopy from last night's high.

After puking for a good five minutes, I sat beside the toilet and wiped my mouth with a wet washcloth. Now I know why so many people stopped drinking. Dumb teenage experience #37: drinking. Well, everyone's gotta have stupid fun when they're teens, right?

"Neff? You alright?" I heard my dad call. He came in the doorway and cringed, covering his mouth. "Jesus, kid! How much did you drink?"

"You're not mad?" I asked with a sore throat.

"Kind of more disappointed in the fact that you were doing it without adults nearby. The cops could have been called, you could have had drunk sex, your friend could have drugged you, anything was possible," he explained.

I blinked. "You're… you're not gonna send me to mom's?"

"You kidding? I was joking when I mentioned that. And Neff, I'm not stupid. I knew your antics. You even drunkenly admitted you were doing this to get back home!"

I cursed under my breath. "Right."

My dad sighed. "Look, you should know something. It's kind of serious. Are you even sober enough to register it now? Are you still sorta high?"

"I'm sober. I think."

"Well, whatever. I'll tell you again if I have to. You have a uh… condition." He sat down on the floor.

I was explained the same shit I heard before. I didn't bother to cut him off and tell him I knew everything; the last thing I wanted was for him to possibly be mad at mom again. The fact that I could see into the past still bugs me. What if I could somehow control this power and fish out info? I could be like one of those top detectives on _Special Crime Units_. As appealing as that sounded, I choose living safe over having some stupid power. Nobody is meant to have this power anyways.

Of course, I wasn't let off easy and was grounded until the end of the school year. No TV or video games, and my beloved smartphone was replaced with the old flip phone that could only call and text. I still had my journal though. Maybe I could write some cool fanfics for the next month.

 _April 15th, morning_

 _Got grounded and my plan to go back home failed. Now I have to live in fear for God knows how fucking long. He explained everything to me, and how Elmore was sort of a save haven for my "kind" according to the Internet, since all crimes linked to the killing of my "kind" weren't anywhere near here. But who knows, maybe there's this chip in my head that allows people to track me? I'm part machine. It's possible._

 _Besides the point, I'll have to write another letter explaining to my mom what happened. And find another method of getting back home. I'm not giving up that easily. I'm getting rid of this condition. I'll just have to come up with some sort of plan. If I can't get back home, then is it possible for… home to come to me?_

V3ll. That's my way out of this.

It all made sense. If I could have him come down here and get rid of this stupid fucking condition, then I could go back home! And my dad could move back too, and maybe, just maybe, he'll not worry about the paparazzi ruining his ex-career even further and try to make things work with mom! That had to happen. Right? Things could go back to normal and none of this would have ever happened!

If only I could go back in time.

Later that night, after hearing my dad go to sleep, I snuck into his office and got on the computer so I could email V3ll. It wouldn't be hard clearing the history and wiping out any trace of me being on his computer for a few minutes. I learned a few things from my IT class last semester back home.

V3ll's email was found on my hospital's website. Apparently he was ranked as one of the top doctors there. I had only met him a handful of times, and all he wanted to do was brain scans and take blood samples. He didn't tell me exactly what for, and at the time I was too young to even ask. I just thought doctors knew best and shouldn't be questioned. Let's just hope this works out in my case too.

After writing up a proper email, describing my situation in good detail, I clicked send. I didn't know when a response would be coming.

Weeks passed. No response. I was wondering sometimes if I had even sent it to the right email. But every time I checked, it was the same exact one on the website.

I became desperate one night, sitting at the computer desk with sweaty hands. It had been two weeks. Should I send another email? Should I contact one of his coworkers?

Moments later, my hands were shaking as the small flip phone in my hands played the dial tone of V3ll's office number. The light of the computer was illuminating the dark room. I didn't have to worry about talking quiet, since my dad slept more heavy than a log.

Just as I thought it would go to voicemail, someone picked up.

"I deeply apologize, Neff. I was just about to reply to your email."


	4. Back Home! Problems Arise!

**Back Home! Problems Arise!**

In which Neff returns home in a daze.

~x~

"This is… V3ll, right?" I asked, after a moment of silence

"It certainly is. I'd like to discuss that email you sent me," the doctor on the other end said.

"Go on…"

"Unfortunately, I cannot go all the way to Elmore. All of my equipment belongs to the hospital here. I can't haul it all to a different city to do such a long process. The curing of your condition takes around six months. And there's still the risk of death." Of course, it wasn't going to happen easily.

"That's one I'm willing to take. So… what can we do then?"

"I'd need your father's consent since you live with him, but according to your email, that's out of the question," V3ll said. I sighed.

"So what do we do?"

"I'll call you back within a few days, Neff."

And with that, he hung up.

Fuck! All I want is to stop living in fear of being hunted down, even if Elmore was a safe haven. I could fend for myself back home just fine if it meant being cured. Sunny would be there for me. Amaya would be too.

God, how I missed the both of them.

At school the next day, I sat next to Tobias in class. The end of the year was coming up, and Miss Simian stopped giving a fuck where we sat and what we did. At this point, he and I just talked a lot and shared memes with each other on iFunny. But seeing as how I was grounded and stuck with the flip phone, we just talked.

"So when are you getting your phone back?" he asked. "It's been weeks."

"Hell if I know. When does the year end?" I responded. I still felt guilty about basically using him to get me back home, which in the end, failed miserably. Note to self: never get drunk and high again. It's either one or the other.

"June 9th. I'm throwing another party for the end of the year if you wanted to come. Partying with you is lit as hell."

I smiled nervously. "I can see if I can go, but see, my dad has my ass on lockdown about that now. If anything, we'd have to do it with adults around."

He gave me a weird look. "What adults would want to party with us? You're too much of a goody, Neff."

"I am?" I asked, baffled.

"Duh. You always worry if adults approve of things."

I frowned. "This is one time. Sorry I don't want to make shit worse with my dad."

"Suit yourself. But if you change your mind, the invite is still there. June 9th. 5:00."

I don't think he realizes that once my dad has me on lockdown on something, I was ON LOCKDOWN. There was no way around it. Even when mom tried talking him out of things, his rule still stood.

I looked at the date on my phone. May 31st. That was 9 days from now. Would V3ll call within that time period? Or would I be waiting longer? And would my dad even let me go to the party? I wasn't going to lie; partying with Tobias was fun as hell. In fact, that was the most fun I'd had with anyone in forever. And it surely made all this stress of moving go down a lot.

Tobias was, at this point, my only friend. Yeah, Gumball and Darwin were the first ones I met, but I never really clicked with them like I did with Tobias. We had the same sense of humor, liked a lot of the same TV shows, and both listen to some pretty good music. The only difference was that he was athletic, and I wasn't. He was like a second Sunny, only a different species.

Sunny and I had a lot of things in common as well. I could only pinpoint one difference between us: he was a musician. Always playing guitar or the drums, and sang like a fucking angel. He was a one-man band. Unfortunately, he only did this as a hobby and never wanted to live up to his potential. He wanted to be an accountant instead.

"It's more productive and does good for everyone. Plus, I know I won't make it in the music industry," he explained at one point. It pissed me off. He never knew until he tried. And honestly, compared to the local singers in the music capital of the US, he was the top one to me.

Going back to Tobias, I really didn't want him to think I was avoiding him. I just didn't want my dad to get pissed at me. I snapped out of my thoughts and looked at him, who was on his phone texting. "I'll see if I can make it. No promises though."

He looked up and smiled. "Great! It's gonna be just like the last time, except more people."

I nodded nervously, and the bell rang at the perfect time to go home.

 _May 15th, evening_

 _Still no response from V3ll. It's been so long that I'm starting to think everything is a lost cause. That I might just have to live in fear forever. The worst part is that all I can do is wait at this point. I hate not being able to do anything. There's usually always something I can do. But it's unrealistic that I can travel hundreds of miles home, unless I get a train ticket. My dad would skin me alive probably, if he found out I did that. And it would just make things worse between him and mom. I guess I'll just not worry about it now. I mean, if I was being hunted down, whoever was hunting me down would have done it by now and found me. It's been a month. I doubt anything is going to happen. I just have to think rationally._

More weeks passed, and pretty soon, it was a few days before the party. I was still grounded, so I didn't want to ask yet.. It didn't hurt to, even though I already knew the answer would most likely be no. No parents were going to be there, and he would know that there's gonna be weed and alcohol there. It amazed me how he didn't beat my ass because I was drunk and high at the same time. Or maybe he did, I was just too messed up to notice.

Tobias was coming over for a few hours. He'd be the first friend I was having over in Elmore. My dad didn't know that he was the guy that organized the party, and it's best if it stayed that way.

He reminded me so much of Sunny. I should start calling him Sunny v2 or something like that. Speaking of, I haven't heard from him in such a long time. I shot him a few texts, but never got any response. That was kind of weird, although final exams back home were taken really seriously. So maybe he was just studying a lot.

I sat on my bed and waited for his text that would say he was here. The AC was blasting in my room, so to stop myself from freezing, I hid under my blanket like I was in a cocoon.

"I bet I look like a fucking sushi roll," I said, staring at the shitty quality screen that was part of my phone.

"A very small sushi roll," a voice said. I looked over to my doorway and saw Tobias standing there.

"I thought you would text and say you were here!" I shouted.

"I did, but my phone died on the way here. Your dad was creeping in the window and let me in."

"What did he say?" I asked.

"Nothing much," he responded, "just asked me 800 thousand questions about who I was and why I was your friend."

I smiled. "He was like that with my friend Sunny too. He'll warm up to you eventually."

"Right. But," he said, and set his backpack on the floor, "I brought my Xbox. You wanna play something?"

"I've never laid hands on one of those. You're gonna have to teach me."

His eyes widened. "Seriously?"

I nodded and got up, throwing the blanket to the side. We set up the Xbox in my room and sat on the bed. He loaded up this game called Battlefield 4 and started playing. I was amazed at watching him play.

"There's a DUDE COMING LOOK-"

His character fell to the ground, dead. I could feel the adrenaline rushing through me, as if I was in the game myself. These games were too exciting. I don't know how his hands never shook.

"...behind you."

"I didn't even notice him. How did you?" Tobias asked me.

"How did you not see him? He was right there!"

"I must be blind, because I didn't."

I watched him play longer, pointing out every enemy I could find within a split second. Tobias was now in the top of the leaderboard. According to him, this was the best he's ever done in a video game for months.

"I lost my mojo with this game, but now it's coming back hard," he said.

Hours passed, filled with corny jokes, funny stories, and a few deep conversations. I felt that I could relate to him on a spiritual level. We had a LOT more in common than I thought, regarding views on controversial things and such.

My dad came upstairs to check on us every so often, and at one point, he smiled. It was this kind of smile that made him look like he was proud. Was he proud that I wasn't being a loner anymore and had an actual friend?

In reality, he was the only friend. Gumball and Darwin kind of fell off with me. That was partially my fault though, because I always chose to talk to Tobias over them. I couldn't speak for Rob yet. Getting high with somebody doesn't necessarily mean that you're close friends. It's just one thing you share in common.

Eventually Tobias asked what I wanted to do, since his game was getting a bit repetitive to me. I suggested we turn on a TV show that I had been wanting to start watching. I brought up cans of soda and bags of snacks, and we laid on my bed watching it. The sun was setting, so the orange light from outside came into my room like an unknown guest.

My bed was so comfy. And after all of that shouting and adrenaline from watching Tobias play his game, I got really sleepy. If I could just finish this episode and let him go back to the game…

I fell over, dead asleep, with the warmth of him unknowingly invading my side.

"I gotcha, don't worry."

 _In his room, the 17-year old lay on his bed, researching some colleges. His future was coming up fast. He wanted to be prepared. He wanted to make something out of his life. But how could he do that when the only support, his only cheerleader, was gone? He had to start making motivation for itself. And damn, was it hard. The thoughts of her invaded his mind._

 _There was a noise downstairs that crashed his train of thought. A loud one. Being home alone made him even more scared. Quickly, he ran to his closet and got out a bat and creeped out of his room._

 _"What in the fuck…?"_

 _Slowly but surely, a figure made its way up the stairs. The boy turned on the hallway light. In the blink of an eye, the intruder made his way towards him. Everything went to black._

For some reason, the thought of me cuddling Sunny came back instantly. I clutched tightly to whatever I was holding in this half-conscious state.

"Sunny, don't go…"

"Uh, this is Tobias. Who's Sunny?"

My eyes popped open like Squidward in the episode of Spongebob when he realized that the sponge was in bed with him. I let go of Tobias almost immediately. My heart was racing. That was no doubt another vision I had. Who died? Who intruded? I had to call him. To make sure he was okay.

"Where's my phone? The bootlegged ass one that just texts and calls, where is it?!" I demanded, tears building up. Tobias quickly looked around with me in the bedspread, under the bed, in the closet, and finally I realized it was in my pocket. My hands were shaking so much that I nearly dropped it going through my contacts.

"Come on, come on…" I mumbled to myself, tears pouring out of my eyes. How long ago was that vision? Was it even Sunny? Was my sixth sense right? Or was it some crime I witnessed like those other people with my disease?

The phone continued to ring.

"We're sorry, the number you have called is currently not available. This person has not set up their voicemail-"

"FUCK!" I shouted, throwing the phone to the floor. I got on all fours and dashed downstairs to the den, where my dad was napping on the couch. "HE'S DEAD!" I screamed.

My dad jolted up and probably almost went into cardiac arrest with the way I shouted. Tobias came running downstairs.

"What?! Who's dead?!" my dad responded, getting on all fours as well.

"Sunny! I had a vision and he's f-fucking dead!" I sobbed.

 _Hit them right where it hurts the most: the heart._

What was that voice? Who said that? I looked around the room in fear. Was a ghost watching me?!

"Sunny? Are you sure?" my dad asked.

"Y-yes! He's not answering his phone!"

My mind went into overdrive and I started having a panic attack.

That was when I blacked out. I don't remember much, but when I woke up, I was in the front seat of our car. My dad was in the driver's seat next to me, looking alert.

"What? Where are we going?"

"Back home."

I lost count of how many times I used his phone to call Sunny. What worried me more, was that my mom wasn't answering either. We had to get home. They almost always answered their phones. It pained me every time I thought of one of them dying. They were all I had left. I couldn't lose them.

Hours passed, with me drifting in and out of sleep. Sometimes I was crying, sometimes I was mumbling to myself about how I couldn't lose them.

The dead of night was when we came back. I bet my dad didn't expect to be back home. I could imagine the headlines already: "Former celebrity visits hometown to investigate murder of ex-wife and family friend". I was wondering now, who had the motivation to kill them? And was that vision even accurate?

Maybe this was my ticket to get cured.

Cured of this stupid disease that was obviously getting out of hand. I didn't want to live in even more fear of these possible false visions. It would be too much. I'm already having panic attack. Now it would be realistic nightmares AND creeps heading after me.

Elmore wasn't a sanctuary. It just made things worse.

If we didn't move. If my parents didn't break up, things would have been the same. And I wouldn't have went to that stupid school and hung out with those stupid people, and smoked stupid weed and drank stupid alcohol, and got stupid grounded, and stupid, stupid… stupid Tobias! My only friend.

So guess what happens?

Yeah, I start crushing on the dude! Not nearly as much as I love Sunny, but this won't make it any better. I have enough fucking problems to deal with!

Eventually we made our way downtown to our old mansion. It sat propped up on an old, but still standing, brick foundation. Mom still didn't fire the gardener either. The lawn was in tip-top shape. And the bushes had grown new flowers, just in time for spring.

God, how I missed this house.

My dad and I both got out and ran up to the doorway. He entered the passcode into the lockbox for the key. Of course mom didn't change it. She couldn't program that thing to save her life.

His hands were shaking as he struggled to get the key into the hole. My cold hands held his still as I unlocked it for him. We busted inside.

It was too quiet.

"Kitty! Katarina!" my dad called out. No response.

"Mom!" I shouted, my voice cracking.

"Agh, fuck!" my dad shouted, and stormed upstairs. I followed him into her room. My whole life flashed before my eyes. Of when I was a kid, how all of us went out for walks together. When I was in the second grade, and they helped me pull my baby tooth out. When I was in middle school and had my first actual birthday party, and Sunny was the only one who showed up. When we were all happy. All a family. And now look at us. Separated because of me. Because of this stupid fucking disease.

He slammed the door open.

And there she was.

She wasn't in pain. She wasn't screaming. She wasn't suffering. She just sat up, propped against the head of the bed frame. Still as the night we lived in.

Dead.

I just stood there. Looking at the blood drained from her mouth. The stab wound in her chest where her warm heart was. Her hands were folded neatly in her lap, with her hair falling ever so gently down to her sides and on the bedspread.

"Katarina," my dad choked. "No. No, no…" He walked over to her slowly.

I fell to my knees.

 _Hit them right where it hurts the most: the heart._

There that voice was. Ironic how much it applied to this situation.

"Neff," my dad called. "Come here."

I slowly crawled over to him with what little strength I had left. I stood up and leaned on him for support.

"There's nothing left for us here anymore. It's all gone," he stated, looking at the woman he dedicated his life to at one point.

"There's still Sunny," I stated blankly. I couldn't cry anymore. It was all gone.

I had to get to Sunny. To make sure he was okay. That this was just a false vision and I'd still have him. We had to take him back home with us. I can't lose him too.

I couldn't remember how it happened, but I ran four blocks over within minutes. Remember how I said I wasn't the athletic type? I still wasn't. It was my subconscious, begging me to go on. To get there as fast as I could. But at this point, I could run forever. If he was missing instead of being possibly dead, I'd run forever just to find him. I'd look in caves. On top of mountains. In sewers. Even hell below, just to find the one thing I loved dearly. I would give my own life at this point just to see him be okay. If one of those psychos chasing people like me down wanted me in exchange for him, psh. Take me. I don't care anymore.

My legs were numb from running, my mind numb from thinking, my heart numb from beating.

For once in my life, I realized that this entire situation was completely, and utterly, my fault. It wasn't my parents' fault. It wasn't Sunny's, Tobias', Rob's, Amaya's, my hometown's, or Elmore's fault. No. It was mine. If I had just ran away all those miles back here, everyone would be okay. Nobody would be suffering except for me. And quite frankly, I deserve it. I deserve every ounce of suffering put upon me for being born with this stupid fucking curse.

Once I got there, I climbed the vines that rained from the side of Sunny's house up to his room's window. I whipped it open and saw his door open, with the hall light on. The exact same scenario as my vision. This is what it was like, witnessing two death scenes in one night? It's like I was standing next to death watching a show on TV that he produced.

If that was the case, then I was the antagonist.

"Sunny?" I called out. "Are you here?"

No response. I went out to the hallway. I didn't expect his parents to be home until the morning. What would they think once they found out that their beloved son was murdered in his own house by some asshole? With me being here all of a sudden, would they think that I came back to kill him?

Why on Earth would I do that?

I sat next to the wall, looking at the staircase. I didn't want to go down there and see his dead body possibly lying there. There was too much happening. I just witnessed my own mom's dead body, and now this. This agonizing paranoia of the boy I was in love with being dead. It was too much. My emotions came flooding back to me, and I broke down crying. My heart sank and I felt like it was turning inside out.

Everything was gone.

I was all alone, sitting in this great big quiet house that once held so many memories between us.

I weeped for my mom the most. She wouldn't be dead if it wasn't for me. That thought was branded into my brain.

"Neff?" a voice called. It was my dad downstairs. "Where are you? WHO ARE Y-"

 _CRACK._

More tears flowed.

 _CRACK._

I got up slowly and peeked around the staircase to see what was going on downstairs. A figure in a black hood and jogging pants held a butcher knife in his hand, looking over my now dead father's figure, right next to Sunny's body. There was a slice right between his ears on the top of his head.

No. No, this couldn't be. This wasn't happening. This was just a stupid nightmare. This was all a vision. If it was, I can prevent it.

"I'm going to wake up now!" I screamed, gaining the killer's attention. "And when I do, you'll be gone!"

The killer turned towards me and dashed towards the stairs.

"WAKE THE FUCK UP!" I screamed at myself.

"STAND THE FUCK DOWN!" a voice screamed. I looked towards the door. I didn't have time to think as another figure in a dark green trench coat came in. He sprinted towards the killer and blasted a shotgun in his face.

Four. Four murders.

The killer's blood splattered across the wall. All of his brains were covering the floor and his body. I screamed.

"Can I wake up now?" I sobbed to myself, curling up into a ball. The person with the shotgun was going to kill me next, I just knew it. He was going to blast it in my face and then be done with all of us. All of the remaining family I had.

"You are awake, Neff," the man said. I looked up slowly.

Speak of the devil, it was V3ll.

Out of all people. The doctor that I needed to see the most was right in front of me.

"Sh, sh, it's okay. Come here." He held out a gloved hand to me and I took it. But my legs were so shaky that I fell back down. Almost immediately, V3ll scooped me into his arm, the other one holding his shotgun. "You're safe now. This is a new start."

I looked up at him. "A new start?" I sobbed. "A NEW START? You think that witnessing the murders of the ones I loved most is a new start?"

"That's not what I meant. You'll be safe now. We can cure your disease," V3ll said. He was right, but honestly that was the least of my concerns right now. My family was just murdered, and all he had to say was that my disease could be cured? What was this, did he want money or something? Is that really all he cared about?

"Put me down," I said. "Now. Please."

V3ll gave me a weird look before setting me down on my feet. I couldn't even stand up properly, and sunk to the ground.

"Call the cops. I just want to be left alone," I whispered.

"Neff…"

"Just call the cops!" I shouted, and started sobbing. "Jesus, all you care about is curing my fucking disease when my dead family is all around you! Fuck off!" I screamed.

"Because I CARE about you! And it would help if we'd just leave!" he shouted back.

"Why? We can't wait to do this later this week? It has to be tonight?!"

"For fuck's sake just come ON! You either come now, or I'm never going to speak to you again!"

"You know what?" I said, angry. "Go ahead! Whatever it is you're after, you're gonna have to wait if anything. You're too concerned with my disease than the person you just killed, or these dead family members!"

"You should fucking thank me!" V3ll shouted back. "Now I'm sorry I didn't make it in time to save your dad's life from that murderer!"

My ears perked up. "You knew?"

He nodded, not losing eye contact.

"AND YOU DIDN'T FUCKING TELL ME?!" I screamed. I stood up with any ounce of strength I had left in my bones, and pounced on him. Pure anger was fueling me. It wasn't strength anymore. It wasn't sadness. It was anger, knowing this could have been avoided, and the one person to save me didn't even tell me. Hatred ran through my veins.

I clawed and scratched at his face as he tried pushing me off. He grabbed my neck with one hand and aimed the shotgun at my face with the other.

"Neff, I don't want to do this!" he said with a stern voice. I chuckled.

"Do it," I said through clenched teeth. Tears were streaming down my face. "Fucking do it. Then you won't have a stupid disease to cure anymore."

Sirens roared abruptly outside, and V3ll pushed me off before running upstairs. He took the shotgun with him.

That was the last I ever saw of him.

 **Jesus, this chapter was hard to write. That last scene held me off for weeks until I finally spat something out at school.**


	5. Finding Closure!

**Finding Closure!**

In which Neff starts over when she didn't think she deserved to.

~x~

I spent hours in that interrogation room.

They wouldn't stop asking me what the murderer wanted.

A search squad was send out for V3ll. Apparently cops had a suspicion amongst him, because of how many times security was called on him at work. They found several journal entries in his office about the sadistic things he wanted and planned to do. A warrant was sent out just minutes ago to search for any evidence in his office.

There was a feeling in the back of my mind that things weren't supposed to play out this way. That I was supposed to agree with him and let him cure me. This stupid disease has gotten me into more shit than I had hoped. At first, it was just random visions. But now, it was real. And I don't know how it's possible to see into the past. Was there some sort of secret cosmic camera that played these scenes? Was it some ghost using its powers that relayed directly to my brain?

"Officer," I asked him calmly as he wrote down on a legal pad.

"Yes?" he said, not looking up.

"You know I didn't commit any of those killings, right?"

"Yes, I know. But since you knew about them, we're questioning you," he said.

"I didn't do it. I have Farrel-Butzen's disease."

His writing paused, and he looked up. "Excuse me?"

"I have… Farrel-Butzen's disease," I repeated. I remembered from when the whole thing was explained to my parents in the vision, it was mentioned that people like me had worked for the police because of it. But they were also hunted down. I was convinced now, that V3ll wasn't trying to help me. He wanted to hunt me.

He was so close. But why was he so lenient? Why didn't he just grab me and point a gun to my head?

I replayed the scene in my head over and over. But I wasn't going to suggest the scene to the cops until they actually found something from V3ll. The last thing I needed was me looking like an over-analytic fool.

"You're shitting me, right?" the police officer asked, laughing and looking around. "Is that why you came all the way from Elmore?"

I nodded.

"Jesus, kid. You really did it. I thought I was going to have to be the bearer of the bad news. The headlines. Oh, what the headlines would have said. 'Superstar's daughter commits homicide on own family', that doesn't sound right. You're too young for that."

"People may have thought I'd do that because of the big move. It was so stressful. My dad's retirement from fame pissed off the media. But I didn't listen to any of it. I was too concerned with how big this would affect my life," I explained.

"I never knew your dad personally. But I know he had problems. I just hope he worked them out before all of this."

"He did. Don't worry."

I was still forced to be in a holding cell until the police found my medical documents and the fingerprint results came in. I did some thinking all alone in that cell. About how my life would change after this. Who would I go with? I wasn't 18 yet. Someone had to take me in. Either that, or be emancipated. That would take forever though. But the biggest question was where I was going to live.

Would I stay in Elmore, or move back home with the big brick house? No doubt it would now be mine because of inheritance. But who would I have now? Everyone is fucking dead. And I'm still here wondering who did it. Most likely that sadistic killer that V3ll shot down. But my question was this: How did he know when this was all going down?

"You're out, kid. They found evidence," an officer said as he came to my cell and unlocked it. I got up.

"What happened?"

"Follow me."

I did so, and he lead me to the officer in another room. I sat down with him.

"Well, kid, you're in safe hands right now, if that's gonna make up for what I'm about to tell you."

I gulped.

"V3ll has been under our surveillance for months. He's crazy, to put it plain. And, well, you just got lucky. He was coming to kidnap you, kid. I don't know why he didn't force you with him, maybe it was to make you think you weren't gonna be taken. He was trying to cover it up, but did it extremely badly."

"Why did he want to kidnap me?" I asked, worried.

"He wanted what was in your head. That disease. Turns out he came up with this device that extracted it and put it into his head."

I remembered instantly how my kind were hunted down for this sort of thing. I figured it was because they wanted to know about their past, or have some sort of way of finding other things out. It was a cruel thing, honestly.

"I just got lucky," I said quietly.

"You sure as hell did."

"But what now? Who do I live with?"

"You have one of two options: stay in foster care and wait until you're 18, or become emancipated if you show responsibility of living on your own."

"I'm not responsible, I can't even drive yet."

"Not if you don't start. Plus, your dad was rich, you're getting his inheritance. You're set for life," the cop said, and I saw a bit of envy in his eyes.

"But I don't think I deserve it. I'm getting a dead person's money? And for what, to hold me off on going hungry? I can take care of myself."

"Uh, yeah, sure. Look, if I had 26 million going into MY bank account, I wouldn't bother to deny it."

"But I don't deserve it!" I said again. "I literally do not. I'm not entitled to it, it's not my money, I don't WANT it."

"Mhmm. Okay. I'd rather take the money and stay outta foster care. Those families don't need another person to feed, especially a millionaire."

"There's no convincing you, is there?" I asked. irritated.

"Nope."

The bright side, I was left with money. The downside, was that I was still in a mentally corrupt state that if anyone witnessed my thoughts aloud I'd be put into a mental asylum.

A week had passed before I was officially emancipated. Newshounds constantly emailed me or tried calling me, and a few times I witnessed them knocking on the door of my old house. I was just up in my old room, packing the few belongings I left here because I was convinced I was coming back there one day.

But it looked like Elmore was my permanent new home.

I didn't want to stay back in this shitty town, where the memories of my dead loved ones constantly haunted me each time I looked at Sunny's window, or my dad's favorite recliner. All that stuff was being taken to god knows where. I even put up a sign in front of the house once I had gotten done taking my valuables, saying "Take what you want".

I even left the car.

The train ride home was a long one. Not a text from Tobias that whole week. Figures. My dad ditches him one night at his house and that's the last he sees of him. Ever.

I wonder how Tobias would react to what happened.

I don't know why this clusterfuck of events came over me. And I certainly know that I may have not deserved it. People died at the cost of me, and this was karma biting me in the ass. For what? I didn't know. But what I did know, was that I was going to try and start over in Elmore.

I was going back there to forget about what all happened.


End file.
